NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tropical activity is possible in a couple of days in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a report Tuesday.

At 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT), the NHC said, "Conditions are currently unfavorable for development of a large area of disorganized cloudiness and thunderstorm associated with a tropical wave and an upper-level trough (an elongated area of low pressure) from the east coast of Florida eastward for a few hundred miles over the western Atlantic and Bahamas."

However, the NHC added, "Slow development is possible in a couple of days when the system moves westward over Florida and into the eastern Gulf of Mexico."

The energy market watches for tropical storms because they can disrupt U.S. oil and natural gas production and refining if the storms enter the Gulf of Mexico.

Commodities traders also track tropical storms because they can damage citrus crops in Florida and such crops as cotton along the Gulf Coast.

The NHC will name the next tropical storm Jerry. A tropical storm typically packs winds of 39 to 73 miles per hour.

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In the Atlantic Ocean, meanwhile, the NHC said any development of a tropical wave located about 800 miles east of the Lesser Antilles islands in the eastern Caribbean would be slow to occur as it continues westward at 10 to 15 mph.